Wrinkles
by livinglouder
Summary: The laugh lines, he decided, were the sign of a good life. KagaKuro. Adult AU.


It was somewhere around Kagami's 27th birthday that Kuroko noticed it. The lines on his face when he smiled, the skin that wrinkled around his lips when he grinned didn't fully snap back the way they used to. The corners of his eyes had begun to show wear but in a way he found himself adoring. The laugh lines, he decided, were the sign of a good life.

Each crease that began to show up on his face over the years was like a mark of pride to Kuroko. That even after these many years, he could still get Kagami to smile like that, enough to tug at the edges of his lips and have him break out in that sunny grin of his.

Over the years, the creases only got deeper and it was around his 32nd year that Kuroko finally pointed it out. Nestled happily in his lap and running light fingers across his fiancee's face, he told him about how he loved every wrinkle on his handsome face. He told him how he cherished every one that showed up. He'd meant every word and with Kagami's blushing face and complaints about how he said such embarrassing things, he assumed he had understood it.

Only after a couple days, Kuroko noticed a very obvious lack of shaving on Kagami's part. The wrinkles around his lips became signifigantly less obvious as the beard grew in until it was a mass against his jaw and upper lip.

It was strange, really, that he suddenly decided to grow himself a beard and whenever he would kiss Kuroko and Kuroko would comment on how it tickled or itched, he would make some comment about how he'd been wanting to grow it out for a while; that he thought beards were pretty cool.

The bluenette didn't think much of it at first. Kagami maintained it, trimmed it and over the years, he started to find it really suited his face. It matched his rough, solid appearance and Kuroko couldn't deny that he looked quite handsome. He looked even more mature in a way Kuroko didn't think was possible, given his childish personality.

However, he missed the laugh lines. He missed the tiny creases when Kagami would give him a smirk. Those little promises that Kuroko was keeping him happy over the years.

"You should shave this off again." Kuroko spoke, fingers tracing along Kagami's jawline as he laid naked upon his chest. "I feel like I've forgotten what you look like under all this."

Kagami blinks at that and looks away absently. "…I can't."

Blinking, Kuroko tilted his head and glanced down at him. "Why not? You have razors in the bathroom."

"I can't because I'll look like my father did."

Blinking again, Kuroko replies with his usual neutral expression. "I know for a fact that your father was a handsome man."

"Don't say that crap with a straight face… I'm gonna get annoyed." He grumbles.

"Then what's the real reason? I think you'll look handsome either way and I miss the wrinkles."

"See? That."

"_That_?"

"Why do you keep saying that?" Kagami questions, looking back at him and looking a little shy. "I mean, I know growing old is inevitable and I'm not getting any younger but why do you always have to talk about them?"

"….You don't like them?" Kuroko questions. His fingers come up to brush against his cheek. "Why not?"

"Because they make me look old when I stand next to you!" He finally snaps and then flushes a dark shade of red usually reserved for first confessions and marriage vows.

Raising an eyebrow, Kuroko stares down at him until Kagami bothers to elaborate.

"Have you ever started to realise what I think when we go out together? I look like my grandfather did and I'm not even 50 yet." He gestures a hand toward Kuroko's face. "And you? You look like you still did when you got out of college. Not a wrinkle on your face. I look like some old man you're taking care of at a nursing home."

"… How long has this been bothering you?"

"How long have I had this beard?"

"And you're only bringing this up _now_?"

"I'm not getting any younger." He repeats.

Kuroko stares down at Kagami's flustered face and after a long moment, he sighs heavily. He reaches a hand up… and proceeds to squish the redhead's face with it.

"Tetshuyah, what'r you doin-?" Kagami slurs between his fingers, reaching up to pry his face off his face.

"You're as stupid as ever, Taiga." Kuroko sighs, not bothering to lift his hand but of course Kagami manages to pull it off regardless. "I like the wrinkles. I specifically_ told_ you that I like the wrinkles. Why do you suddenly care what other people think about us?"

"It's not—"

"Do you not remember what my parents look like? What my grandmother looked like? I'm going to get wrinkles one day too and I can't grow a beard like you to cover them up. Are you telling me that you're going to want to leave me once I start looking old as well?"

"What?! Of course not—"

"Then you think I'm shallow."

"I never said that!"

"Then what does it matter?" Kuroko questions, face as calm as always.

Kagami opens his mouth to answer him but, for once, he's at a loss for words. He just sort of lays there, lips moving to begin sentences but never actually speaking them. So Kuroko lays a kiss upon them, sealing the conversation with a kiss. They lay like that for a long moment, simply filling the silence with sweet kisses as Kuroko traced his fingers across his face.

"I want this gone by tomorrow." He finally mumbles against his lips. "And I promise to love every new wrinkle you've been hiding away from me. Deal?"

Kagami hesitates, gaze wavering.

"Deal?" Kuroko repeats, looming over him.

Finally, the redhead sighs heavily. "… Deal."

"I love you."

"You better."

_FIN_ | _Constructive critique always welcome!_


End file.
